Miscellaneous

About This System

How do I become a user?

Instructors can register to use the reservation system by completing a registration form, found here.

How do I login?

Once you have been registered to use the system, the button in
the top right corner that says 'Log in'. After you enter your
username and password, you will be brought back to the calendar
page in order to select a time and date to make a reservation.

How can I access and change my account information such as my password?

After logging in with your username and password, your login info will be displayed in the yellow box in the upper right corner. Click 'Show my Account
Info' and then update your user account information from there. To change your password, type in your new password in the two "Password" boxes and click "Save".

When I enter my username and password, the reservation system does not let me log in.

If you are having trouble logging in, please make sure cookies are enabled or try a different browser. Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Safari, and Firefox have all been tested with the system and are compatible when cookies are enabled. After changing your cookies setting, make sure to restart your browser.
If you are still unable to log in, please contact an administrator.

I forgot my password. What to do?

You can reset your password on this page. Your password will be changed to a new temporary password, which will be emailed to you. If you have trouble, email LaShanda, the center manager, at (polyglot@pitt.edu) and she can help you out.

How far in advance can I make a reservation? What's the deadline?

All reservations can be made up to 120 days ahead of time. The deadline depends on areas: for labs, it is 2 hours with some restrictions; for the rest, it is 24 hours. Please see the policies section below for details.

Where is my reservation?

After logging in with your username and password, there will be a link called 'Show my reservations' in the upper right corner. Clicking on the link will take you to a reservation search page. Clicking on 'Run Report' at the bottom will display all of your upcoming reservations.

What are the red and green check marks at the bottom of my reservation window?

They indicate whether or not
your reservation passes scheduling and policy conflict check. You can
hover your mouse over to view a detailed explanation.

How do I delete a reservation that I no longer need?

First, log in with your username and password. Go to the day of the
reserved event and click on the event. Below the event information you
will have the option to edit, delete, copy, or export the entry. Click
'Delete Entry'.

Why can't I delete/alter a reservation?

In order to delete or alter a reservation, you must be logged in as the
same person that made the reservation. Contact the administrator or the person who initially made the reservation to
have it deleted or changed.

How do I make a recurring reservation?

Only administrators can schedule recurring reservations. Regular users do not have the ability.

What happens if multiple people schedule the same reservation?

The short answer is: The first person to click on
the Submit button wins.
Behind the scenes, the system is using a proper multi-user, multi-threaded
relational database than can handle many thousands of simultaneous users.

What is the difference between OPEN and CLOSED classes?

When individual users who are not associated with a class are allowed
to use the lab, the class is labelled as OPEN. These users are
instructed by our staff not to talk, print, or interrupt the class in
any way. CLOSED classes do not allow users outside of the class to
enter the lab for any reason during the reservation time, just like a
regular controlled classroom.

What is the 'Folder needed' option for?

The request is for creating a folder on our lab server for your class. For example, you might be planning to have a classroom exercise where students record themselves. A server folder for your class can then be used for your students to store their media files so later you can retrieve them all from a single spot.

How does the system work and who wrote it?

LMC's Online Reservation System is a customized version
of Meeting
Room Booking System (MRBS). MRBS is open source software
that is distributed under the Gnu Public License(GPL), which
means that it is free to use, distribute, and
modify. Please see the
project home page for details.

Reservation Policies

Reservation Lead Time

Maximum Lead Time: All reservations can be made up to 120 days ahead of time.

Minimum Lead Time: For labs, it is 2 hours with some restrictions (see below). For all other areas and checkout equipment, it is 24 hours.

Media Development Areas

Minimum Lead Time: Reservations must be made at least 24 hours in advance.

Duration: A single reservation can be up to 3 hours
long. If you require longer, please contact the center manager to make
an arrangement.

Recording studio and Multimedia Development Station are for faculty and graduate students only.

For the use of recording studio, faculty members get full assistance including running of the studio equipment. This service is normally not provided to graduate students.

Checkout Equipment

Minimum Lead Time: Online reservations must be made at least 24 hours in advance.
If you need to borrow something right away, please contact the center to inquire about the availability of the item. We might be able to accommodate you. In this case, please note that you should return the equipment in 24 hours it might be sooner if someone has requested the equipment. If you would like to keep the equipment for an additional 48 hours, you should follow the normal reservation procedure and make sure that it is reserved in our reservation system so that you may keep the equipment for our full 3 day lending period. If you do not do this, someone else might request the equipment that you have and you will be required to return it right away.

Duration: Equipment can be checked out for a maximum duration of 3 days at a time, including weekends and holidays. We may be able to accommodate longer loans: please contact the center manager.

Equipment such as Flip video cameras and laptops can be checked out only by faculty and graduate students for instructional activities.

Computer Labs

Minimum Lead Time: For labs, reservations can be made up to
2 hours prior. In making a same-day reservation, however, a
couple of restrictions apply:

please consider making your class or project
OPEN for independent users who might have already made plans to come
in to use the lab earlier in the day,

if you need a demo or have
a special request, please call or email the manager to make sure that it can
be accommodated in such short notice.

Special Requests: Audio or video demonstrations for classes must be requested in advance, on the online reservation form. Instructors not familiar with the specific software to be used in class are advised to make an appointment with the manager for training.

Class Folders: If you would like your students' audio and/or video files to be saved in a folder on our LMC server, you must request the folder in advance on the online reservation form. In order to retrieve the files, please make a request for service.

We distinguish the following two categories of lab reservations:

CLASS reservation: reservations made for language classes or linguistics classes

RESEARCH PROJECT reservation: reservations made for a research project.
If such a project is conducted during a language class, it still counts as a research reservation and not a class reservation.

In order to ensure fair sharing of the lab resources, the following volume and frequency restrictions apply.

Minimum occupancy level: Lab reservations must maintain an average of 1/3 occupancy level. The occupancy level is defined against the lab seat capacity (20 total seats in the Mac lab and 28 in the PC lab).

Classes with small enrollment are exempt from the above requirement.

Daily maximum: (same-day reservations exempted)

3 hours per CLASS section

6 hours per RESEARCH project

Term maximum: (same-day reservations exempted)

24 hours for CLASS section

48 hours for RESEARCH project

Biweekly maximum: (effective up to 7 days prior)

4 hours per 2-week interval for CLASS (8 for summer classes)

16 hours per 2-week interval for RESEARCH

Maximum consecutive weekly reservation of the same time slot (ex. Mon. 1-1:50pm): (effective up to 7 days prior)

2 consecutive weeks

Since our labs are shared resources, we ask each user to refrain from reserving the same time slot for more than two weeks in a row. After two successive weeks' reservations, you may take the third week's slot if it remains not used one week before.

Enforcement:

The online reservation system will accept all reservations within the "120 days - 2 hours prior" window. It does not automatically flag reservations that do not meet the volume and frequency requirements noted in this section.

It is, therefore, the user's responsibility to make sure that the volume and frequency of the reservations meet the requirements above.

The Language Media Center reserves the right to modify or cancel any reservations and or equipment checkouts that do not comply with our policies or are otherwise deemed excessive.

Policies on cancellations and no-show:

Cancellations of a lab reservation must be done in a timely manner: please help other lab users by freeing up a space as soon as you know you no longer need it.

No-shows are not acceptable and will negatively affect your ability to reserve our labs in the future.